By Karla Hazen Hart
Churubusco Class of 1975
My father, Leonard Hazen, a graduate of the Churubusco High School class of 1951, and I interviewed Mr. Jim Guiff on a warm, July afternoon in his neat and cozy farmhouse near Churubusco.
Jim is proud of the fact that he lives and maintains his home by himself, with a little help from family now and then.
James Lewis Guiff or ‘ole J. L. or Jimmy (as his friends fondly nicknamed him) was born on September 23, 1911. He is the son of John Jay and Elizabeth Fulk Guiff. His siblings were Ed, Fred, Ila and Jake.
Jim is the last known living alumni from the class of 1928. Vivien Ardman Gregersen from the same class cannot be located, and Jim doesn’t know her whereabouts.
Jim was quick to point out that my deceased grandfather, Guy Gross, was a very good friend to him.
Elbert Huston, “‘ole Quack,” and Kenny Felger were also great friends from the class of ‘28. Elbert and Kenny are now deceased. There were 18 graduates in Jim’s class and he showed us a beautiful photo with their senior pictures, all in one photograph.
In his younger days, Jim walked to the one-room schoolhouse (Madden School) where he attended grade school. This was about one mile from his home. Later, he would drive a horse and buggy to the old Churubusco School in town. Still later, Arlo Gump would pick Jim up in his car from time to time.
Jim said the basketball coach at ‘Busco wanted him to play on the team, but the roads to town were dirt and could be impassable in the winter months so Jim declined to play.
Jim told us about one beautiful Thursday in September when Kenny Felger drove his Model T to school. Kenny parked his car near the school building and got the urge to skip school since it was such a nice day.
He said to his friend Jim, “Let’s go to the Kendallville Fair!” Other friends of the boys (Pete Garrison and Carl Richey) said, “Can we go, too?” So the four boys skipped school and had a fun day at the fair.
The next day, Jim decided to skip school again so that he could make some money from spending so much at the fair the day before. His job was topping onions at a local farm. This also delayed his punishment until Monday at school. He was hoping that Mr. Updike, the principal, would have forgotten about his shenanigans by then. Unfortunately, he did not.
After graduation from high school, Jim married Belle Kugler in 1930. The couple had three children, Audrey, Gladys and Jerry. Audrey is deceased and Gladys just passed away a couple of weeks after we interviewed Jim.
He also has eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Belle passed away in 1973. Jim remarried in 1977 to Irene O’Connell. Irene passed away in 2007 with Jim at her side. He told us he took care of Irene for 40 months and he is still grieving over her passing.
Jim was a farmer all of his life and still enjoys living on the same farm and house that he grew up in. In the beginning, Jim’s family used horses for plowing and field work. They grew corn, wheat, alfalfa and soybeans. The family also raised hogs but mostly dairy cows. Jim worked at International Harvester for a time but was laid off after only a few months.
After a lifelong tradition of rising early, Jim still gets up around 6 a.m. each morning, and retires around 9 p.m. He usually has supper at his son and daughter-in-law’s home - Jerry and Marsha Guiff - each evening. He enjoys talking about his love of CHS and his many friends and family. He is a devout Chicago Cubs fan and had a Cubs tee shirt on to prove it.
Dad and I agreed it was such a delight to spend a little time with ‘ole J. L., and we will not soon forget our time with him. Jim is filled with many interesting memories and he sure has a lot of “spunk” left in him.
Thanks for the memories, Jim!
Loading ...